Frequently Asked Questions
What is the EMP?
The EMP has been designed and written from the ground up to provide effective Tier 1 instruction (i.e., whole class teaching) for all learners.* Concepts and skills are introduced sequentially and reviewed regularly, providing learners with the opportunity to consolidate their learning throughout the program. Every lesson includes a gradual release of responsibility, allowing teachers to gently pull back on scaffolds as students demonstrate mastery. Lessons also provide teachers with the opportunity to work closely with students requiring additional support if required.
Extension questions are present in most lessons to allow higher-achieving students the chance to push themselves with more challenging content.
*Though it can also be used for Tier 2 and 3 intervention, and has been done so successfully.
The EMP is primarily designed to be used for whole-class instruction. However, it is entirely suitable to be used for 1-on-1 and small group intervention and this has been done in a variety of schools with success.
The full webinar can be viewed here.
At present, the main PD for the EMP is embedded within the Teacher Lesson Book. That is, the EMP comes with a full guide for schools regarding how to prepare your teachers to teach the EMP effectively within three hours of self-paced PD. We will offer live and online PD in future. If you have ever completed our contact form, you will be notified of upcoming PD opportunities.
What does the EMP include?
Resource samples are available on the Programs page of our website.
Yes, developmentally and contextually appropriate hands-on activities are included throughout the program
Worded questions are first introduced in Level A through the Daily Reviews, where students use sticks to represent addition and subtraction problems.
From Level B onwards, explicit lessons are dedicated to teaching specific problem-solving schemas. The methods used are informed by the work of Dr. Sarah Powell (summarised in an approachable way in this podcast)
Level B focuses on Total Problems, Level C introduces Change Problems, and Level D adds Difference Problems and Equal Groups Problems.
Mixed problems (NAPLAN-style questions) are introduced halfway through Level C, and included in every DRQT.
Explorations are introduced in Level D. Explorations are given the time of a full lesson and each contains a collection of problems connected by a theme that gradually increase in difficulty and openness.
The EMP uses slides, but not powerpoint. The slides are in PDF format. Slides are used for all Daily Review and Quick Teach sessions. Slides are used very rarely within lessons. Instead, in most cases the teacher is either drawing simple diagrams on the whiteboard, or using a copy of the student workbook under a visualiser/document camera (the iPevo v4k is an excellent option), or another solution with an iPad/Smartphone, etc.
The EMP is based upon all curricula relevant throughout Australia. That is to say, we have taken all content descriptors from every state and territory, in addition to the Australian curriculum, and embedded all required skills within the EMP. The way that you specifically report to the curriculum that you are using is through our Assessment spreadsheet. For a demonstration of this, see 11 minutes and 50 seconds within the demo video on our Programs page, where you will also find scopes and sequences.
As the EMP covers curricula from all Australian states and territories, it must teach to the most ambitious curriculum dot point from any jurisdiction in relation to each skill.
You may therefore find that, when comparing EMP content to your own state curriculum, the program appears to extend beyond a particular dot point.
In addition, there are instances where the EMP deliberately teaches beyond the requirements of any individual State or Territory curriculum for a given skill. This is because we are informed by the curriculum, but not limited by it. Our expert writers have systematically sequenced all learning outcomes from the first year of schooling to the end of Year 6 to maximise student success.
Where we identified that skill jumps between year levels were unreasonably large, or where curriculum learning progressions appeared disjointed, we have purposefully extended learning beyond the expectations of a specific year level. This supports stronger overall understanding and makes transitions between year levels more manageable for students.
For these reasons, you may at times find that the EMP stretches beyond the curriculum requirements of your jurisdiction.
Why choose EMP?
The EMP has been specifically designed to address gaps found in other existing programs. In light of this, the EMP is the only program that has all required components for delivery, including lessons, daily reviews, both formative and summative assessments, mapping to all State and Territory curricula, and in-built implementation guides. Other programs offer some of these elements, but not in the same coordinated package. Further, it is our belief that the quality and consistency of the EMP far exceeds that of the competitors due to the nature of how it has been created, by a small and dedicated team of true subject experts.
Who can use EMP?
Yes! Simply order the relevant resources (teacher lesson books and student workbooks) and the program is completely usable for a single teacher with a small or large class of students, or for a parent with their child or children.
The EMP has been used with a variety of students with additional needs in both a whole class setting and small group intervention.
In a whole class setting, students with additional needs can be provided with additional scaffolds like a number line or hundreds chart. Independent practice is a key component of the EMP lesson structure and during this time teachers can provide individualised support to students.
We have also developed remediation programs for students who cannot engage in Fluency Practice. For example, if a student cannot engage in the Fluency Practice Program in Foundation or the first half of Year 1 (ie. If during the timed practice they struggle to commence work, have lots of incorrect answers, or are unable to have success when offered support) students are then directed to a simpler program in place of the written fluency practice. This simpler program involves copying complete facts to allow for error-free learning. This program will focus on facts to 10 and addition only.
Additionally, from half way through Year 1, you will be provided with timed assessments to identify students who are not developing the required 40 digits correct per minute fluency for facts. Similar to the Foundation Year program, students will copy facts, however there is a greater focus on recall, and both addition and subtraction facts, this time to 20 will be included.
When using the EMP for Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 intervention, the pace and levels of support can be easily adjusted to meet the needs of diverse learners. Our simple routines and repeated practice enable students to have a high level of success.
In summary, the EMP is taking a structured and systematic approach to supporting teachers to identify students who are struggling, and to target appropriate adaptations to their needs. This will continue to be an ongoing focus for the EMP.
The EMP roadmap includes expansion up to Year 6. At a minimum, this includes the release of Year 3 in 2026, Year 4 in 2027, Year 5 in 2028, Year 6 in 2029. In short, any student who begins the EMP program in 2025 will be able to continue with the program for the entirety of their time at primary school.
When can I start EMP?
As soon as you order the EMP, you will receive within your order confirmation email a link to the first five weeks of the EMP in digital form. This will enable you to commence the EMP straight away whilst you await the delivery of your order.
Beyond Foundation Year, each year of the EMP is designed with assumed baseline skills. However, for a variety of reasons, some students or classes may not be operating at grade level. There is different guidance for different year levels. Please read on
i. Year 1 and Year 2 students
We offer Bridging Courses within our Level B (Year 1) and Level C (Year 2) programs. The Bridging Course for Level B covers essential Foundation level skills, including but not limited to reading and writing numbers to 10, comparing numbers to 10 and counting on. The Bridging Course for Level C includes reading and writing 2-digit numbers, addition and subtraction facts to 20 and skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.
We provide a quick assessment that is carried out early in the year to allow teachers to determine whether a Bridging Course is required.
For this reason, students in Year 1 or Year 2 who are new to the EMP can begin with our Level B (Year 1) and Level C (Year 2) Programs
ii. Year 3 students
Our Level D (Year 3) program is intended for use by schools whose students have successfully completed the Level C/Year 2 program, as it builds upon the concepts and skills introduced in prior years.
If you are a new school looking to purchase the EMP for use in Year 3 classrooms, we recommend using the Level C/Year 2 program initially. This program still meets the vast majority of curriculum descriptors for Year 3. Full details and curriculum mapping for each year can be found here.
A full list of prerequisite skills for Level D can be found here.
iii. Year 4 students
Due to the ambitious nature of our program, EMP Level D covers approximately 75% of the Year 4 curriculum. Full details and curriculum mapping for each year can be found here.
Read our full guidance on composite classes here.
What does the school need to provide?
In addition to the books provided by the EMP, here is an indicative list of resources you will need from Foundation Year to Grade 2. We will send a detailed list with sufficient time for ordering.
Classroom Resources
- Classroom whiteboard
- Visualiser/Document Camera (We suggest the iPevo v4k, but you can also find guides online for how to use iphones, ipads, or other devices as document cameras, such as this video)
- 1 x mini whiteboard, whiteboard marker and eraser per student
Manipulatives
- 1 x 0-9 numbered dice per pair of students (plus 1 for teacher)
- 1 x 6-sided dot dice per pair of students (plus 1 for teacher)
- 20 x counters per student (2 sets of 10 in two different colours if possible, plus teacher set)
- 20 x magnetic counters per teacher (2 sets of 10 in two different colours if possible)
- 2 x laminated ten frames per teacher (Template can be found in Lesson 8A of Student Workbook)
- 100 x bundling sticks per student (plus teacher set)
- 10 x bundling stick bands per student (plus teacher set)
- 20 x interlocking blocks per student (plus teacher set)
- Plastic money (coins and notes)
- Laminated number line (0-20) per student. PDF will be supplied. Download PDF here
A full list of the manipulatives required for each level of our program can be found here.
Resources for Optional Activities and MSSP Lessons
The EMP includes outlines for lessons in the Measurement, Space, Statistics, and Probability substrands. A full list of resources needed to teach these sessions will be provided shortly.
Ordering questions
To date, every school who has used the Explicit Mathematics Program has found it to be an excellent fit. However, if you still have questions and queries after watching the video on our Programs page, and reviewing this Q&A page, we would love for you to book into an EMP demo call here (places limited to the first 4 schools in each time slot)
Yes, simply select the ‘Pay via Invoice’ option at checkout.
The costs for the Assessment Book, Teacher Lesson Book and Student Workbook can be found on our Orders page.
Note that the cost of the Teacher Lesson Book includes access to the Daily Review Slides.
All physical EMP resources (books) for the 2025 school year will be delivered at the beginning of 2025. During the ordering process, you will specify a Delivery start date. This is the earliest date in 2025 that your school office will be open for deliveries. Your EMP resources for Semester 1 (Terms 1 and 2) will be delivered on or shortly after your specified delivery start date (max of 5 days) [Student Workbook 1, Teacher Lesson Book 1, Assessment Book part 1]
Resources for Semester 2 (Terms 3 and 4) will be delivered in early June (delivery at no additional cost) [Student Workbook 2, Teacher Lesson Book 2, Assessment Book part 2]
To enable you to prepare; by mid-november, 2024, all schools who purchase the EMP will be given access to electronic resources for the first 5 weeks of the program. This includes our Teacher Implementation guide, which includes materials for 3 hours of self-paced Professional Learning to prepare teachers to successfully implement the program with their classes.